1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio communication system and radio base stations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Techniques for providing nodes in radio networks with relay functions to configure mesh networks or tree networks have been known. The mesh networks etc. vary depending on use thereof, and include ones which are always maintained, ones which are configured when necessary, etc.
Recently, radio terminals (mobile phone terminals, smartphones, tablets, etc.) have been popular. There is a communication style for causing such a radio terminal to connect to one of nodes in a mesh network, and causing another one of the nodes in the mesh network and the radio terminal to send and receive data between them.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-302694 discloses a tree network which is configured using a radio gateway as a root.
In the tree network disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-302694, the root is fixed to the radio gateway. This configuration in which the radio terminal can connect to any node, however, has a problem that it is impossible to configure an efficient network because connection of the radio terminal to a node other than the root prevents some nodes from communicating through the root. This configuration has another problem that an electricity to be consumed increases because it is necessary to keep communication for maintaining the communication path while the path in the network is being maintained.